Aftermath: The 1986 Budget

Abstract

The year leading up to the 1986 rate-making provides an instructive comparison with the year before. The legal framework was broadly the same. The council would be selected for rate-capping in the summer, and would then pass through the same rites of passage. In the autumn there would be a decision on redetermination, in the New Year a decision on whether to accept the maximum rate limit, and at some point, if all else failed, a decision on whether to apply for judicial review of the Secretary of State’s actions. With the rate expected to be set at the legal maximum, financial efforts would concentrate on identifying non-rate means of sustaining the council’s plans.